JPS6226506B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a ballot paper counting machine, and particularly to a ballot paper counting machine that can quickly count ballot papers mixed with attached votes.

b. Prior Art Conventionally, in order to distribute ballot papers to polling stations in each district, it has been necessary to count and divide the ballot papers, to count the ballot papers left at the polling stations when voting has ended, or to Most of the tabulation processes, such as counting the number of votes for each candidate or the number of votes for or against each candidate at a voting station, were done manually or using ordinary paper sheet counting machines.

In this case, for the paper sheet counting machine, for example, the configuration of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1983-4146 shown in FIG.

In FIG. 5, what is indicated by the reference numeral 30 is
This is a paper feeding device for holding sheets 31 to be counted in a stacked state, and at the bottom of this paper feeding device 1, a feeding roller 32 for feeding out the sheets 31 one by one from the bottom is rotatable. It is set in.

On the feeding side of the feeding roller 32, a first sheet transporting device 35 consisting of a pair of belts 34 connected to each other by four rollers 33 is disposed. Inside the device 35, a pair of first counting elements 36 and an abnormal state detection element 37 are arranged.

A rotatable exclusion fork 38 is provided on the exit side of the first paper transport device 35, and four
A second paper transport device 4 consisting of a pair of belts 40 connected to each other by rollers 39
1 is provided, and this second paper transport device 41
A pair of second counting elements 42 are arranged inside.

An abnormal paper receiver 43 is disposed adjacent to the removal fork 38, and the second paper transport device 4
A normal paper receiver 44 is provided on the exit side of the paper 1.

The conventional sheet counting machine is configured as described above, and its operation will be explained below.

The sheets 11 fed out one by one by the feeding roller 32 pass through an abnormal state detection element 37 and a first counting element 36, and abnormal states such as two sheets overlapped or two sheets chained are detected by the abnormal state detection element. 37, the exclusion fork 38 is rotated to the position shown in dotted lines and the first counting element 36
In addition, the counting of the sheets 31a rejected to the abnormal sheet receiver 43 is stopped.

In addition, in the case of normal paper, the exclusion fork 38
has rotated to the position indicated by the solid line, so the paper 31 that has passed through the first paper transport device 35 is moved to the position indicated by the solid line.
After being counted at 6, the paper is guided to the second paper transport device 41 and counted again by the second detection element 42.

Therefore, the first detection element 36 and the second detection element 42
If the counted values match, the total number of sheets can be obtained by adding the number of sheets 31a stacked in the abnormal sheet receptacle 43 to this counted value.

c Problems to be solved by the invention When a commercially available banknote counting machine is used for counting ballot papers as described above, a general banknote counting machine may be used as is due to special circumstances unique to the election. There was a serious problem. In other words, even a single vote counting error can have a serious impact on a candidate, so when counting the number of votes for each candidate at a voting station, for example, the ballots are counted first and a predetermined number of ballots are counted. Next, in order to prevent other votes from being mixed in and to identify and confirm the bundle of votes, the name of the candidate and the number of ballots must be specified and an appendix stamped by the person in charge of the election commission must be attached. The bundle of votes attached to the ticket bundle must be counted again to check whether the number of sheets written on the ticket matches the counting result. Therefore, when a general banknote counting machine is used for elections, it ends up counting even the attached bills, so the counting result must be corrected after counting, and it cannot be put to practical use. In addition, the counting of votes is not limited to full-time staff of the election management committee, but also staff of other local governments who may not be proficient in vote counting, so the counting results may vary depending on the operation of the counting machine. If anyone can operate the important operation section that may cause a problem, the reliability of the counting results of the counter will decrease. Therefore, in election counting machines, only the person in charge of the election management committee must be able to operate the important operation parts.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and is capable of displaying only the counted number of voting papers even in a bundle of ballots with attached slips. The purpose is to provide a ballot counting machine that can only be operated by authorized persons.

d Means for Solving the Problem The ballot paper counting machine according to the present invention sequentially passes the ballot papers in the hopper section through a conveyance detection section, counts a predetermined number of ballot papers in the conveyance detection section, and sends them to the stacker section. In the ballot counting machine that forms a predetermined number of bundles of votes on the stacker section, there is a storage section that stores the number of bundles of votes set by the number of ballots setting knob, and a ballot paper that passes through the conveyance detection section is detected. a detection section for counting; a control section for generating a passage signal representing the number of ballot papers in response to an output signal of the detection section; a counting display device for displaying, a comparison unit that compares the number of vote bundles stored in the storage unit and the number of output signals from the detection unit, and sends a vote bundle completion signal to the control unit when they match, and the memory unit; a plus 1 connected to the storage unit and capable of increasing the number of vote bundles stored in the storage unit by one;
The configuration includes a switch.

e Function In the ballot paper counting machine according to the present invention, when the plus 1 switch is set to "0", the final count value matches the number of ballots set with the vote stack number setting knob, and the plus 1 switch is set to "1". When set to , the number of sheets in the bundle can be set to the final count value displayed on the count display device minus 1.

In other words, if the Plus 1 switch is set to "0", normal ballots without any attached votes can be counted, and if the Plus 1 switch is set to "1", ballots with attached votes can be counted. Papers can be counted (usually during post-election counting operations).

f Example Hereinafter, a ballot paper counting machine according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a ballot counting machine of the present invention is shown. Ballot papers 1 are stacked on a hopper section 2. The voting papers are fed out one by one from the bottom one through the feeding section 3 to the conveyance detection section 4. The voting papers 1 sent out from the conveyance detection section 4 are sequentially stacked on the stacker section 5. Each of the above-mentioned parts 2 to 5 is a well-known part in a normal banknote counting machine. Further, this stacker section 5 is provided with a stacker detection section 6 on the side of the stacker section for detecting the presence or absence of the voting paper 1 in the stacker section. In addition, the hopper part 2
A first operation section 7 for setting counting conditions and displaying abnormality detection is provided on the side of the screen or on the left side with respect to the conveying direction of the voting paper. Below the first operation section 7,
A second operating section 8 is provided for operation by a counting operator using the counting machine.

The first operation unit 7 is used by a person with sufficient knowledge and experience regarding the ballot counting machine to set the counting conditions, confirm the cause of the abnormality when the abnormality detection is activated, eliminate the abnormality, and prevent the occurrence of the abnormality. This is intended for, for example, the person in charge of the election commission who can instruct the counting workers in such matters. On the other hand, the second operation unit 8 allows a counting worker who is temporarily engaged in counting of ballot papers to start and stop counting, read the counting display, check for abnormal displays, check whether the specified number of ballot papers has been reached, etc. This is to simply and easily perform limited tasks such as checking the number of sheets in a stack.

In FIG. 2, the first operating section 7 and the second operating section 8 are shown.
is shown enlarged. The first operating section 7 includes a stack number setting knob 9, a plus 1 switch 10, an automatic/manual changeover switch 11, an inspection switch 12,
It is composed of an inspection lamp 13, a double feed indicator lamp 14, a continuous feed indicator lamp 15, a stub indicator lamp 16, and a clear switch 17. The vote stack number setting knob 9 is used to set the number of vote stacks (in the figure, 10, 20, 50,
100, 200, and ∞), and when the number of ballots in a bundle is set to a predetermined number (for example, when the arrow on the ballot number setting knob 9 is set to 100), that number is stored in the memory in the ballot counting machine. be remembered.
The plus 1 switch 10 is configured to subtract 1 from the final count value (count value when the vote bundle is completed) displayed on the count display device (to be described later), that is, the count display LED 20, or to set the count value as the number of votes. There is a mechanism that allows the number to be set to be the same as the number of sheets in the bundle, that is, it can be set to "1" or "0". That is, this plus 1
When the switch is set to "0", the final count value matches the number of ballots set by the ticket bundle number setting knob 9 (for example, 100). In addition, when set to "1", the total number of sheets with attached notes added to the number of sheets can be displayed.
The number of sheets (for example, 100) that is obtained by subtracting 1 from the total number of sheets can be set as the number of sheets of the bundle. This means that when the number of bundled votes is set to a predetermined number, the final count value can be made equal to or greater than that number by one.

The automatic manual changeover switch 11 is connected to the stacker section 5.
It consists of an automatic switch for automatically carrying out and counting sheets after taking them out of the machine, and a manual switch for manually starting carrying and counting. If this automatic/manual changeover switch 11 is set automatically, when the number of ballots set by the number of ballots setting knob 9 is reached and the conveyance and counting are automatically stopped, the ballots 1 in the stacker section 5 will be counted. When the person takes out all the ballots, the stacker detection section 6 detects that the stacker section 5 is empty, and automatically starts conveying and counting the ballot papers 1 on the hopper section 2. On the other hand, when the automatic manual changeover switch 11 is set to manual, when the number of sheets in the stack is reached and the conveyance and counting are automatically stopped, the start switch 1 of the second operating section 8 is pressed each time the automatic stop is performed.
Conveyance and counting will not start unless 8 is pressed.

When the inspection switch 12 is switched to the inspection side, when invisible light such as infrared rays is used as the light source of the detection unit, the inspection lamp 13 is turned on when the light source is irradiating normally. It's becoming like that.

The double feed indicator lamp 14 is a lamp that lights up when the thickness of the conveyed ballot paper exceeds a predetermined allowable thickness limit. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the paper sheet conditions and conveyance are stored in the storage section 24, which detects the conveyed ballot paper by the detection section 23 and determines the limit of the amount of detected light that indicates the thickness of the ballot paper. The paper sheet condition section 2 of the comparison section 25 compares the amount of light detected on the ballot paper
5a, and if the detected light amount for the thickness of the transported ballot paper is not within the limit range of the detected light amount for the thickness of the storage unit 24, this ballot paper is determined to be double fed,
A signal is sent from the comparison section 25 to the abnormality display control section 26b, and then a signal is sent from the control section 26b to the double feed display lamp 14, which turns on the lamp. Also,
At the same time, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
6a, the conveyance control unit 26a issues a signal to stop conveyance, and stops conveyance of the voting paper.

The continuous conveyance indicator lamp 15 is a lamp that lights up when the length of the conveyed voting paper in the conveyance direction exceeds the permissible limit of the sheet condition of the storage section. That is, the detection unit 23 detects the conveyed ballot paper, and compares the length of the conveyed ballot paper with the paper condition 25a of the storage unit 24, which defines the limits of the length of the ballot paper, and the paper condition 25a of the comparison unit 25. When the length of the ballot paper to be conveyed is not within the length limit range of the paper sheet conditions in the storage unit 24, the ballot paper is determined to be continuously conveyed,
As in the case of double feed display, the continuous feed display lamp 15
is lit and displayed. In addition, this continuous feed display lamp 15
At the same time as the double feed indicator lamp 14 lights up, the conveyance control section 26a issues a signal to stop conveyance, and the conveyance of the voting paper is stopped.

The ticket stub display lamp 16 includes a plurality of detectors (a mechanism known in the field of banknote counting machines,
(not shown) are not shielded at the same time for a certain period of time or more. That is, the detection unit 23 detects the conveyed voting paper, and the storage unit 24
A comparison unit 25 compares the shielding time for simultaneously shielding the plurality of detectors, which is determined by the paper sheet condition section 24a, and the shielding time of the conveyed ballot, using the paper sheet condition 25a of the comparison section 25, and determines the conveyed ballot. When the shielding time is shorter than the predetermined shielding time stored in the storage section 24, the voting paper is determined to be a stub, and the stub display lamp 16 is turned on. Also, at the same time as this stub display lamp 16 lights up, the double feed display lamp 1
4, the conveyance control unit 6a issues a conveyance stop signal and stops conveyance of the voting paper.

The clear switch 17 is a switch for erasing (clearing) the count display of the count display LED 20 as a count display device of the second operation section 8.

The second operation section 8 includes a vote bundle completion indicator lamp 18, an abnormality alarm lamp 19, the counting indicator LED 20, a stop switch 21, and a start switch 22.
It consists of

The ticket bundle completion indicator lamp 18 is a lamp that indicates that counting has been completed up to the number of ticket bundles set by the ticket bundle number setting knob 9 and that conveyance and counting have stopped. The abnormality warning lamp 19 is a lamp that detects an abnormality in the counting machine and indicates that conveyance and counting have stopped. The counting display LED 20 displays the counting of the conveyed voting papers, the stop switch 21 is a switch that stops the counting machine, and the start switch 22 is a switch that starts the counting machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the first operation section 7 and the second operation section 8, the detection section 23, the storage section 24, the comparison section 25, and the control section 26 in the counter.
The paper condition, count, etc. of the conveyed ballot paper are detected by the detection unit 23. This detection section 23 includes the stacker detection section 6, the sheet condition section 23a, and the counting section 2.
Contains 3b. In the storage unit 24, the standard paper conditions and the number of bundles of tickets are stored in a paper condition section 24a and a number of ballots section 24b, respectively. Comparison section 25
The paper condition section 25a and the counting section 25b compare and determine the paper condition and the number of vote bundles stored in the storage section 24, and the paper condition and number of vote bundles of the conveyed voting paper, respectively. When the comparison section 25 makes a comparison decision, a signal is sent from the comparison section 25 to the control section 26 . The control unit 26 includes a transport control unit 26a and an abnormality display control unit 26.
b, a counting control section 26c, and a counting display control section 26d. The control section 26 sends a control signal to the first operation section 7 and the second operation section 8 based on the signal from the comparison section 25, and controls each operation section.
Controlled by signals from 8. That is, the conveyance control section 26a includes the automatic manual changeover switch 11 of the first operation section 7, the stop switch 21 and the start switch 22 of the second operation section 8, the sheet condition section 25a and the counting section 25b of the comparison section 25, and the detection section 23. controlled by The abnormality display control section 26b controls the inspection lamp 13 of the first operation section 7, the double feed display lamp 14, the continuous feed display lamp 15, the ticket stub display lamp 16, and the abnormality alarm lamp 19 of the second operation section 8, First operation part 7
It is controlled by the inspection switch 12, the detection section 23, and the sheet condition section 25a of the comparison section. Counting control section 2
6c is a sheet condition section 25a and a counting section 25 of a comparison section.
b. Last count display control section 2
6d is a vote bundle completion display lamp 18 of the second operation section 8;
and the count display LED 20, and are controlled by the clear switch 17, the detection section 23, and the counting section 25b of the comparison section.

Next, the operation of the ballot paper counting machine of the present invention will be explained.

First, turn on the power switch of the counting machine (not shown).
, and set the arrow on the vote bundle number setting knob 9 to the predetermined number of vote bundles. As a result, the number of bundled votes is stored in the storage section 24. Initially, the stacker section 5 is empty of ballot papers, so the stacker detection section 6 does not detect any ballot paper. Therefore, the voting paper 1 in the hopper section 2 is in a waiting state for transportation. Here, the start switch 22 of the second operation section 8 is
When turned on, the lowest part of the voting paper 1 is sent to the conveyance detection section 4 through the feeding section 3. When the conveyance detection section 4 detects the first voting paper, it is stored in the storage section 24, and a signal is sent from the detection section 23 to the counting display control section 26d. The count display control unit 26d sends a signal to the count display LED 20 of the second operation unit 8 based on the signal from the detection unit 23,
The count is displayed on the count display LED 20 (see Figure 3). In addition, when this first voting paper passes through the conveyance detection section 4, the paper conditions, that is, the thickness of the ballot paper to be conveyed, the length in the conveyance direction, and the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction are checked. A shielding time for simultaneously shielding a plurality of detected detectors is also stored in the sheet condition section 24a of the storage section 24. In this way, the first voting paper stored in the storage unit 24 and counted and displayed on the count display LED 20 is transferred to the conveyance detection unit 4.
From then on, it is stored in the stacker section 5.

Next, the second and subsequent voting papers are counted and compared as follows. That is, when the second and subsequent voting papers are sent to the conveyance detection section 4, the paper conditions are the same as the paper conditions of the first voting paper stored in the paper condition section 24a of the storage section. , are compared in the sheet condition section 25a of the comparison section. If the conditions for the second and subsequent sheets match the stored conditions for the first sheet, a signal is sent from the counting section 25b of the comparison section to the count display control section 26d. Based on the signal from the comparison unit 25, the count display control unit 26d
A signal is sent to the count display LED 20 to increase the count by one. If the paper conditions of the conveyed ballot paper match the paper conditions of the stored first ballot paper, the count increases by one each time the ballot paper is conveyed. On the other hand, if the paper conditions of the conveyed ballot paper do not match the paper conditions of the stored first ballot paper, the comparator 25 sends a message to the count display control section 26d.
There is no signal sent to. Therefore, the transported ballots are not counted. Further, when the comparison unit 25 determines that the match does not match, the comparison unit 25 sends the information to the conveyance control unit 26a and the abnormality display control unit 26.
A signal is sent to b. The abnormality display control unit 26b is
Based on the signal from the comparison section 25, the first operation section 7
A signal is sent to the double feed indicator lamp 14, the continuous feed indicator lamp 15, and the stub display lamp 16, and each lamp is lit to indicate whether the conveyed ballot paper is a multiple feed or a stub. In addition, the transport control section 26a
stops the conveyance in response to the signal from the comparison section 25. When the voting paper or the like that is the cause of the conveyance is removed, the conveyance stop is canceled and the machine enters a standby state for restarting the conveyance operation. At this time, when the start switch 22 of the second operation section 8 is turned on, the voting paper is conveyed again.

In this way, when the number of conveyed ballot papers reaches the number of ballots set by the number of ballots setting knob 9, the counting section 25b of the comparing section transfers the number of ballots from the conveyance control section 26a to
A signal is sent to the count display control section 26d, and the count display control section 26d receives the signal and operates the second operation section 8.
A signal is sent to the vote bundle completion indicator lamp 18, and the lamp is displayed to be lit. Further, the conveyance control section 26a stops conveyance of the voting paper in response to a signal from the counting section 25b.

When the counted ballot papers in the stacker section 5 are removed, the stacker detection section 6 detects that the stacker section 5 is empty, and the ballot papers in the hopper section 2 are again in the state of waiting for transportation. Become.
At this time, if the automatic manual changeover switch 11 is set to manual, the start switch 22 of the second operating section 8
The conveyance of the ballot paper will not start unless it is turned on, but if it is set to automatic, a signal is sent to the conveyance control unit 26a and the conveyance of the ballot paper is automatically started, as shown in FIG. .

Next, a description will be given of the most characteristic function of the ballot counting machine according to the present invention, in which a vote is added to a bundle of votes and counted. The first operation section 7 is provided with a plus 1 switch 10 in addition to a vote bundle number setting knob 9. In other words, in the case of ballot paper, the name of the candidate and the number of sheets attached should be clearly stated and the person in charge should be attached to prevent votes from being mixed into the bundle of votes divided into a predetermined number of sheets and to specifically confirm the bundle of votes. It is often the case that the stamped slips are counted together with the bundle of slips. At this time,
For example, when the number of sheets in a bundle is set to 100, the number of sheets divided into 100 sheets and one attached slip will be counted, so set the number of sheets in a sheet to 100 and count the
The count shown in 20 needs to be stopped at 101 sheets. At this time, the plus 1 switch 10 is used. That is, plus 1 switch 10
set to the 1 side, and turn the vote stack number setting knob 9 to 1.
If set to 00, the conveyance and counting of paper sheets will stop when the count on the count display LED 20 reaches 101. As shown in FIG. 3, the signal from the plus 1 switch 10 is sent to the stack counting section 24b of the storage section, and the signal sent from there is sent to the counting section 25b of the comparison section, the counting display control Part 26
This is possible because the count display control section 26d sends a signal to the vote bundle completion indicator lamp 18 and the count display LED 20.

g. Effects of the Invention As described above, the ballot paper counting machine of the present invention includes a ballot stack number setting knob for setting the number of ballots in the stack;
Since it has a plus 1 switch to count one extra sheet by adding a tag, it has a function that allows you to set the number of sheets in a bundle by subtracting 1 from the counted value, and the number of sheets in a sheet bundle setting knob. The number of votes set by 1 from the count value displayed on the count display LED.
This makes it possible to prevent counting miscounts due to the addition of attached slips, and to ensure reliable counting of the number of sheets in the stack.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the ballot counting machine of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing the first operating section and the second operating section, and FIG. 3 is the first operating section, the second operating section, and the counting machine. Block diagram showing the flow of signals to and from the inside of the aircraft, No. 4
The figure is a block diagram showing the internal flow of the counter.
The figure is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional paper sheet counter. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Ballot paper, 4... Conveyance detection section, 5... Stacker section, 6... Statzker detection section, 7... First operating section, 7'... Transparent cover, 8... Second operating section, 9 ... Vote stack number setting knob, 10 ... Plus 1 switch, 11 ... Automatic manual changeover switch, 1
2...Inspection switch, 13...Inspection lamp,
14...Double feed indicator lamp, 15...Continuous feed indicator lamp, 16...Ticket stub indicator lamp, 17...Clear switch, 18...Balt stack completion indicator lamp, 19...
Abnormal alarm lamp, 20... Count display device (LED), 21... Stop switch, 22...
Start switch, 23...detection section, 24...storage section, 25...comparison section, 26...control section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a ballot paper counting machine that sequentially passes the ballot papers in the hopper section through a conveyance detection section, counts a predetermined number of ballot papers in the conveyance detection section, and sends them to a stacker section to form a predetermined number of ballots on the stacker section. , a storage unit that stores the number of ballots set by the number of ballots setting knob; a detection unit that detects and counts the ballots passing through the conveyance detection unit; a control unit that generates a passage signal representing the number of ballot papers; a counting display device that displays the number of passing ballot papers in response to the passage signal from the control unit; a comparison unit that compares the number of output signals from the detection unit and sends a vote bundle completion signal to the control unit when they match; and a comparison unit that is connected to the storage unit;
and a plus 1 switch that can increase the number of vote bundles stored in the storage section by one, and when the plus 1 switch is set to "0", the number of ballot bundles set by the vote bundle number setting knob is increased. When the final counted value matches and the plus 1 switch is set to "1", the number of votes can be set as the number obtained by subtracting 1 from the final counted value displayed on the counting display device. Ballot counting machine.